The Republic of Mahabad (Kurdish: Komarî Mehabad, Persian: ?????? ?????? ), officially known as Republic of Kurdistan and established in Iranian Kurdistan, was a short-lived, Kurdish state of the 20th century after the Republic of Ararat in Turkey. Its capital was the city of Mahabad in northwestern Iran. The republic's founding and demise was a part of the Iran crisis, a conflict between the U.S. and the USSR, which was a precursor to the Cold War.

Background

In August 1941, a general uprising wrested control of the Kurdish region from the central Iranian government. In the town of Mahabad, inhabited mostly by Kurds, a committee of middle-class people supported by tribal chiefs, took over the local administration. A political party called the Society for the Revival of Kurdistan (Komeley Jiyanewey Kurdistan or JK) was formed. Qazi Muhammad, head of a family of religious jurists, was elected as chairman of the party. Although the republic was not formally declared until December 1945, the committee headed by Qazi, administered the area with commendable efficiency and success for over five years until the fall of the republic^[1].

Soviet attitude

Soviet and British forces occupied Iran in late August 1941, with the Soviets controlling the north. The Soviets were mainly ambivalent towards the Kurdish administration. They did not maintain a garrison near Mahabad and also did not have any civil agent of sufficient standing to exercise any great influence. They encouraged Qazi's administration by practical benevolent operations such as providing motor transport, keeping out the Iranian army, and buying the whole of the tobacco crop. On the other hand, the Soviets deeply resented the Kurdish administration's refusal to be absorbed into the larger Democratic Republic of (Persian) Azarbaijan. They also opposed the declaration of a separate independent Kurdish republic^[2].

Founding of the Republic

In September 1945, Qazi Muhammad and other Kurdish leaders visited Tabriz to see a Soviet consul on the backing of a new republic, and were then redirected to Baku, Azerbaijan SSR. There, they learned that the Azerbaijan Democrat Party was planning to take control of Iranian Azerbaijan. On December 10, the Azerbaijan Democrat Party took control of East Azerbaijan province from Iranian government forces. Qazi Muhammad decided to do the same, and on December 15, the Kurdish People's Government was founded in Mahabad. On January 22, 1946, Qazi Muhammad announced the formation of the Republic of Mahabad. Some of their aims mentioned in the manifesto included^[3]:

• I. Autonomy for the Iranian Kurds within the Iranian state.

• II. The use of Kurdish as the medium of education and administration.

• III. The election of a provincial council for Kurdistan to supervise state and social matters.

• IV. All state officials to be of local origin.

• V. Unity and fraternity with the Azerbaijani people.

• VI. The establishment of a single law for both peasants and notables.

End of the Republic

On March 26, 1946, due to pressure from the Western powers such as the United States, the Soviets promised the Iranian government that they would pull out of northwestern Iran. In June, Iran reasserted its control over Iranian Azerbaijan. This move isolated the Republic of Mahabad, eventually leading to its destruction.

By this point, Qazi Muhammed's support was declining, especially among the Kurdish tribes who had supported him initially. Their crops and supplies were dwindling, and their way of life was becoming hard as a result of the isolation. Economic aid and military assistance from the Soviet Union was now gone, and the tribes saw no reason to support Qazi Muhammed. Many tribes began to leave.

Those who stayed began to resent the Barzani Kurds, as they had to share their resources with them. On December 5, the war council told Qazi Muhammad that they would fight and resist the Iranian army if they tried to enter the region. On December 15, Iranian forces entered and secured Mahabad.

Once there, they closed down the Kurdish printing press, banned the teaching of Kurdish language, and burned all Kurdish books that they could find.

Finally, on March 31, 1947, Qazi Muhammad was hanged in Mahabad on counts of treason ^[4].

Aftermath

Mustafa Barzani, with his soldiers from Iraqi Kurdistan, had formed the backbone of the Republic's forces. After the fall of the republic, most of the soldiers and four officers from the Iraqi army decided to return to Iraq. The officers were condemned to death upon returning to Iraq and are today honored along with Qazi as heroes martyred for Kurdistan. Several hundred of the soldiers chose to stay with Barzani. They defeated all efforts of the Iranian army to intercept them in a five-week march and made their way to Soviet Azerbaijan^[2].

In October 1958, Mustafa Barzani returned to Northern Iraq, beginning a series of struggles to fight for an independent Kurdish state under the KDP party, carrying the same flag that was used in Mahabad^[5].

Massoud Barzani, the current President of Iraqi Kurdistan, was born in Mahabad when his father, the late General Mustafa Barzani, was chief of the military of the Mahabad forces in Iranian Kurdistan. ^[6].

Reasons for failure

Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt, Jr., grandson of the former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, wrote in "The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad" that a main problem of the People's Republic of Mahabad was that the Kurds needed the assistance of the USSR; only with the Red Army did they have a chance. But this close relationship to Stalin and the USSR caused most of the Western powers to side with Iran. Qazi Muhammad, though not denying the fact that they were funded and supplied by the Soviets, denied that the KDP was a Communist party, stating this was a lie fabricated by the Iranian military authorities, and adding that his ideals were very different from the Soviets^[7].

Also, the republic was suffering from a number of internal issues. The towns people and the tribes had a large divide between them, and their alliance for Mahabad was crumbling. As previously stated, the tribes and their leaders had only supported Qazi Muhammad for his economic and military aid from the Soviet Union. Once that was gone, many didn't see the purpose in staying with Qazi Muhammad. Other tribes resented the Barzanis, since they didn't like sharing their already dwindling resources with them. Some Kurds deserted Mahabad, including one of Mahabad's own marshals, Amir Khan. Mahabad was economically bankrupt, and it would have been nearly impossible for Mahabad to have been economically sound without harmony with Iran^[8]

See also

• Qazi Muhammad
• Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou
• Sadeq Sharafkandi
• Mustafa Hijri
• Simko

References

General References

1. "The Republic of Kurdistan: Fifty Years Later," International Journal of Kurdish Studies, 11, no. 1 & 2, (1997).
2. The Kurdish Republic of 1946, William Eagleton, Jr. (London: Oxford University Press, 1963)
3. Moradi Golmorad: Ein Jahr autonome Regierung in Kurdistan, die Mahabad-Republik 1946 - 1947 in: Geschichte der kurdischen Aufstandsbewegungen von der arabisch-islamischen Invasion bis zur Mahabad-Republik, Bremen 1992, ISBN 3-929089-00-9
4. M. Khoubrouy-Pak: Une république éphémčre au Kurdistan, Paris u.a. 2002, ISBN 2-7475-2803-0
5. Archie Roosevelt, Jr., "The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad", Middle East Journal, no. 1 (July 1947), pp. 247-69.
6. William Linn Westermann, "Kurdish Independence and Russian Expansion", Foreign Affairs, Vol. 24, 1945-1946, pp. 675-686
7. Kurdish Republic of Mahabad, Encyclopedia of the Orient. http://i-cias.com/e.o/kurdistan_republic.htm
8. The Kurds: People without a country, Encyclopedia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/worldsapart/3_timeline_print.html
9. Meiselas, Susan Kurdistan In the Shadow of History, Random House, 1997. ISBN 0-679-42389-3
10. McDowall, David A Modern History of the Kurds, I. B. Tauris, 1996 (Current revision at May 14, 2004). ISBN 1-86064-185-7
11. Yassin, Burhaneddin A., "A History of the Republic of Kurdistan", The International Journal of Kurdish Studies, 11, nos. 1-2 (1997): 115-240.
12. Yassin, Burhaneddin A., Vision or Realty: The Kurds in the Policy of the Great Powers, 1941-1947, Lund University Press, Lund/Sweden, 1995. , ISBN 91-7966-315-X Lund University Press. ou ISBN 0-86238-389-7 Chartwell-Bratt Ltd.
13. ????? ???????. ??????? ??????? ? ???????? ??????????????? ????????. ???. ?. ?. ???????, ???, ?????, 2005.
14. ?. ?. ???????. ????????? ? ???????? ?????? (1923?1945). ?., ???????????? ????? «????????? ??????????» ???, 2005.
15. ???????? ?. ?. ???????????? ???????? ?????? ? ????? (1918?1947). ?., «?????», 1988.
16. ??????? ??????????. ??? ???. ?. ?. ????????, ?. ?. ????. ?., 1999.
17. ??????? ???????. ?? ????????? ?????????? ?? ??????? ?????? ???? ?????. ???. ? ??????. ?. ?. ???????. ?.-???, 2003.

See also

• Kingdom of Kurdistan
• Republic of Ararat
• Kurdish Autonomous Region
• Ethnic minorities in Iran

External links

• The Republic of Kurdistan in Mehabad, Encyclopaedia KURDISTANICA.
• Kurds at the crossroad
• The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad at PDKI-Canada
• Republic of Kurdistan, A discussion forum on Washington Post's blog. (Anaylsis by Kurdologists: Amir Hassanpour, Goran Nowicki and Burhan Elturan)
• ???????????????????

ar:??????? ?????? de:Republik Mahabad es:República de Mahabad fa:?????? ?????? fr:République de Mahabad id:Republik Mahabad ku:Komara Kurdistanę ya Mehabadę hu:Mahábádi Köztársaság nl:Republiek Mahabad ja:???????? pl:Republika Mahabadzka ru:??????????? ?????????? simple:Republic of Mahabad fi:Kurdistanin tasavalta (1946) sv:Mahabadrepubliken tr:Mahabad Cumhuriyeti

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